Demand for three-dimensional (3D) video content has increased over the past several years with the increasing availability of 3D video content and the ability to generate such content. For example, the number of 3D movies, television shows and video games available has greatly increased over what was available just a few years ago, and many new video capture devices available on the market have 3D capture capabilities.
Various stereoscopic technologies can be employed to allow a user to experience 3D video. Most 3D video technologies require the user to wear a set of glasses that allow each eye to receive images slightly offset from those received by the other eye. The brain blends the two images together and interprets the differences between them as being the result of different distances, thus creating the illusion of depth. One conventional 3D video technology employs displaying anaglyph images, in which two differently filtered color images are superimposed on one another to produce the depth effect. Anaglyph video is viewed with glasses comprised of left and right lenses of different colors corresponding to the color layers in the displayed anaglyph images. One form of anaglyph glasses is the well-known white cardboard frame glasses comprising red and blue lenses, which have been used by moviegoers for well over half a century. The blue lens lets a red image through to one eye and the red lens lets a blue image through to other eye. The illusion of depth is created by the offset between the red and blue images.
In another stereoscopic technology, stereo 3D technology, images intended for the left eye and right eye are alternatively shown on a display in rapid succession. Stereo 3D video is viewed with shutter glasses that alternatively make the left and right lenses of the glasses go opaque and transparent in synchronization with the display of left and right images on the display. That is, the left lens is transparent and the right lens is opaque when a left image is displayed, and the left lens is opaque and the right lens is transparent when a right image is displayed. Again, the left and right images are slightly offset from one another to create the illusion of depth.
One reason anaglyph 3D video has been widely used for so long is its low cost. Anaglyph glasses are relatively inexpensive and anaglyph video can be shown on conventional displays with conventional video cards. In contrast, shutter glasses can cost an order of magnitude or more than anaglyph glasses and high-end displays and premium video cards may be needed to display and process frames at the increased frame rate needed to display stereo 3D video. Besides increased cost, another disadvantage of stereo 3D video is that shutter glasses are often matched to a particular brand or type of display. Shutter glasses matched with one display may not allow viewing of stereo 3D video on other displays.
Regardless, demand for stereo 3D is strong as stereo 3D video can provide higher color quality than anaglyph video. Shutter glasses typically allow substantially the entire color spectrum to be transmitted to each eye and thus do not suffer from the “ghosting” or “crosstalk” that can occur with anaglyph glasses. However, not all users may want to spend the money for stereo 3D video hardware. Thus, there is a need to provide users with the ability to view 3D video from a stereo 3D video source using conventional technology.